


Crimson Maiden

by SoulStealer1987



Series: Starchasers [1]
Category: Warframe
Genre: Gen, and I made one, but it could also just be a Garuda Origin Story, so anyway Garuda needed a backstory, this could technically be considered backstory for one of my Tenno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 21:11:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18374174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoulStealer1987/pseuds/SoulStealer1987
Summary: With the passage of enough time, history becomes the stuff of myth and legend, and so it was with the tale of death’s crimson maiden, passed down among the workers of Venus even today. Of course, before the Tenno reawakened, nobody knew it could be true.





	Crimson Maiden

With the passage of enough time, history becomes the stuff of myth and legend, and so it was with the tale of death’s crimson maiden.

In the latter days of the Orokin, a lone Tenno was sent to Venus, now known only as Garuda, although perhaps once she had another name. Garuda was known across the system for cutting a bloody swath through her opponents, and leaving a trail of corpses behind her wherever she went. Garuda knew exactly what the Orokin thought of her, and instead of defying it, she embraced it. She had been sent on mission after mission, always to kill everything in sight, usually working alone.

This particular deployment served to puzzle her. This particular area of Venus was taken up by a mining operation, if a rather hazardous one for the workers. There was no one here she was ordered to kill, and nothing she was ordered to do, save what essentially amounted to standing around and looking intimidating. 

Not that she was not good at looking intimidating, of course—intimidation was half the battle, and Garuda excelled with it as much as she did with combat itself. But this was a mining colony, made up of civilian workers, most of whom had likely never seen a Tenno before her, and for good reason. The Orokin preferred to keep their demons shrouded in secrecy.

This was no place for a Tenno, any Tenno—and certainly no place for a Tenno with a reputation like hers. Garuda was known for quick, merciless slaughter of any who dared oppose her. Yet, there was no one here to kill. Or so she thought.

Over time, she began to realize that this simple mining colony was not at all as it seemed. All kinds of materials disappeared on the daily—rare, common, and everything in between. Important equipment ceased to operate at inconvenient times. Supervisors were consistently uneasy.

Admittedly, that last bit could have been due to her presence. Materials disappearing could be chalked up to incompetence. Equipment being rendered inoperable could have just been bad fortune. But it was the workers themselves that led her to believe that something else was going on here. The workers, and the way they carried themselves—with a quiet defiance that indeed, would have defied understanding if Garuda had not known it all too well herself.

Perhaps, then, it was only a matter of time before something happened. Namely, Garuda was deployed on a routine guard shift where as usual, nothing would ever happen—except this time, something did. 

Silently, she peeked around the corner, expecting nothing. Instead, she was met by the steely gazes of several workers, none of whom she suspected were supposed to be here. Her orders were to kill anything on sight—and now, she thought she understood why.

Nobody moved. Garuda’s crossbow was already in hand. She knew that she could kill them quickly, easily, effortlessly.

Instead, she did the only thing she could. She didn’t pull the trigger. She reached back, slipped her crossbow into its holster, and stepped aside. Even without words, her meaning was quite clear.

From that day on, she no longer fought for the Orokin, although it was some time before she openly fought against them. It was a cold day, when one of her handlers was visiting. And, incidentally, was rather displeased with her progress, and was there to inform her that she as to be recalled and deployed elsewhere.

No one save Garuda knows exactly what happened that day, but she and some others walked into a room, and only she walked out. She disappeared from history then, although the story holds that she continued to aid the rebellion for the rest of her days.

The story doesn’t say how Garuda died. Rumor has it that she didn’t. Perhaps she slumbers somewhere still on Venus, not far from the descendants of the workers she once fought alongside. Perhaps someday, the crimson maiden will once again stand against oppression and tyranny.

**Author's Note:**

> Me, crying over some particularly angsty fic: I'm gonna write something happy
> 
> Me, instead: *posts this*
> 
> Anyway! Tried to write this like a kind of fable, but it's very much true. Garuda—and the Tenno behind the frame—will make an appearance in the present soon enough. Once I actually write more than little snippets of the present, that is...


End file.
